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Exodus 7:15

in Exodus 7

Go to Pharaoh in the morning as you see him walking out to the water. Wait on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river’s brink to meet him; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thy hand.

KJV

Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river’s brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand.

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This verse in Exodus 7

Commentary

6 notes on this verse
Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning,.... The next morning, a time in which the mind is most composed and sedate, and fit to attend to what may be suggested: lo, he goeth out unto the water; the river Nile, either to take his morning's walk, and to refresh himself at the waterside, as the Jerusalem Targum; or to observe divinations upon the water, as a magician, as the Targum of Jonathan. So in the Talmud (d) it is said, that the Pharaoh in the days of Moses was a magician.

This site's exposition

Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning

on Exodus 7:15-16

Plague one opens the first of three triads, and the opening line is where the pattern shows: the first plague of each set is warned at the river in the morning, at 7:15, 8:20 and 9:13, the second is warned inside the palace, at 8:1, 9:1 and 10:1, and the third falls with no warning at all, at 8:16, 9:8 and 10:21. Verse 16 gives the demand in the form it keeps for the rest of the book, Let my people go, that they may serve me, which is release for a purpose rather than release on its own. That purpose clause is attached seven times, at 4:23, 7:16, 8:1, 8:20, 9:1, 9:13 and 10:3, and the Hebrew root inside it is the one Exodus 1:13 and 1:14 used five times over for the bondage.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Moses is expressly ordered to take the rod with him, that Pharaoh might be alarmed at the sight of that rod which had so lately triumphed over the rods of the magicians. That the judgments of God are all known to himself beforehand. He knows what he will do in wrath as well as in mercy.

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

He goeth out unto the water - The Nile was worshipped under various names and symbols; at Memphis especially, as Hapi, i. e. Apis, the sacred bull, or living representation of Osiris, of whom the river was regarded as the embodiment or manifestation. If, as is probable, the king went to offer his devotions, the miracle would have special force and suitableness. It was also the season of the yearly overflowing, about the middle of June; and the daily rise of the water was accurately recorded, under the personal superintendence of the king.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

Get thee unto Pharaoh--Now began those appalling miracles of judgment by which the God of Israel, through His ambassadors, proved His sole and unchallengeable supremacy over all the gods of Egypt, and which were the natural phenomena of Egypt, at an unusual season, and in a miraculous degree of intensity.

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Lo, he goeth out unto the water - Probably for the purpose of bathing, or of performing some religious ablution. Some suppose he went out to pay adoration to the river Nile, which was an object of religious worship among the ancient Egyptians. “For,” says Plutarch, De Iside., ουδεν οὑτω τιμη Αιγυπτιοις ὡς ὁ Νειλος “nothing is in greater honor among the Egyptians than the river Nile.” Some of the ancient Jews supposed that Pharaoh himself was a magician, and that he walked by the river early each morning for the purpose of preparing magical rites, etc.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

AND THE LORD SAID…PHARAOH’S HEART IS STUBBORN. Kaved (is stubborn) is a verb in the perfect.
Ibn Ezra: Spain, 1089–1167 · Ibn Ezra on Exodus 7:14:1, via Sefaria, Ibn Ezra's commentary on the Pentateuch, tran. and annot. by H. Norman Strickman and Arthur M. Silver. Menorah Pub., 1988-2004

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 1 further source is cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

18 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • לֵ֣ךְgo

    lekhH1980 →1546 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • פַּרְעֹ֞הPharaoh

    parohH6547 →274 times

  • בַּבֹּ֗קֶרin the morning

    babokerH1242 →214 times

  • הִנֵּה֙there!

    hinehH2009 →843 times

  • יֹצֵ֣א[he is] going out

    yotze'H3318 →1067 times

  • הַמַּ֔יְמָהthe water towards

    hamaymahH4325 →581 times

  • וְנִצַּבְתָּ֥and you will stand

    venitzavtaH5324 →75 times

  • לִקְרָאת֖וֹto meet him

    likratoH7122 →139 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • שְׂפַ֣ת[the] bank of

    sefatH8193 →176 times

  • הַיְאֹ֑רthe River

    hayorH2975 →65 times

  • וְהַמַּטֶּ֛הand the staff

    vehammatehH4294 →252 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־which

    ʾasher-H834 →5497 times

  • נֶהְפַּ֥ךְit was changed

    nehpakhH2015 →94 times

  • לְנָחָ֖שׁinto a snake

    lenachashH5175 →

  • תִּקַּ֥חyou will take

    tikachH3947 →966 times

  • בְּיָדֶֽךָ׃in hand your

    beyadekhaH3027 →1618 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

7 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Exodus 8:20Then the LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, and when Pharaoh goes out to the water, stand before him and tell him that this is what the LORD says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.6 worksExodus 2:5Soon the daughter of Pharaoh went down to bathe in the Nile, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. And when she saw the basket among the reeds, she sent her maidservant to retrieve it.4 worksExodus 7:10So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD had commanded. Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent.3 worksExodus 9:13Then the LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, stand before Pharaoh, and tell him that this is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.3 worksExodus 4:2–4And the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied.2 worksEzekiel 29:3Speak to him and tell him that this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I am against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster who lies among his rivers, who says, ‘The Nile is mine; I made it myself.’2 works
The other 1 cross-references, with their words ▾
Isaiah 7:3Then the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out with your son Shear-jashub to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct that feeds the upper pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field,2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Exodus 2:5

    Soon the daughter of Pharaoh went down to bathe in the Nile, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. And when she saw the basket among the reeds, she sent her maidservant to…

    it leads to

    • Acts 7:21

      When he was set outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son.

    • Psalms 9:9

      The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

    • Psalms 12:5

      “For the cause of the oppressed and for the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says the LORD. “I will bring safety to him who yearns.”

    • Exodus 8:20

      Then the LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, and when Pharaoh goes out to the water, stand before him and tell him that this is what the LORD says: ‘Let…

    • Psalms 46:1

      God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble.

  • Through

    Ezekiel 29:3

    Speak to him and tell him that this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I am against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster who lies among his rivers, who says,…

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 27:1

      In that day the LORD will take His sharp, great, and mighty sword, and bring judgment on Leviathan the fleeing serpent—Leviathan the coiling serpent—and He will slay the dragon of the sea.

    • Ezekiel 32:2

      “Son of man, take up a lament for Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him: ‘You are like a lion among the nations; you are like a monster in the seas. You thrash…

    • Jeremiah 44:30

      This is what the LORD says: Behold, I will deliver Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hands of his enemies who seek his life, just as I delivered Zedekiah king of Judah into…

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies1

About Exodus

Moses and Aaron Appear before Pharaoh — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Moses and Aaron Appear before Pharaoh — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Exodus: the study guide →Read Exodus 7 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Exodus 7 →